Some good news and bad news and good news. LOL

[hfarley]

Well as most of you know I have been going through a bunch of family issues lately. Well a while back my mom and her boyfriend of 16 years finally got engaged. Yay! They are getting married in December. Thats the good news although it will mean that my schedule will not beslowing down for a bit. LOL!

The bad news. My neighbor Lou who I hang out with all the time had a stroke on Saturday. He is basically ok, blood pressure was hig though. He is now on meds and a low sodium diet. He should be coming home today from the hospital. When this happened on Saturday he was at the track. He didn't feel right, was falling over on his left side, had numbness in his left side and has some facial drooping. He decide to drive himself home from the track. A 20-30 minute drive. Yes I said he drove himself home. He called me as soon as he got home and I ran over right away, threw him in the car and drove him to the emergency room. Yes I know now that I should have called 911, I have had my a$$ reemed for not doing so but hindsight is 20-20. Anyway they were able to give him this medicine that cost $10,000.00 and it seems to have helped. They took a cat scan of his head and he had a vessel burst and was bleeding. He was in the ICU but is now in a regular room. The bleeding is stopped and he should be coming home today hopefully. I have already set up his house with homemade food so he doesn't have to woory about following his diet for a few days until I can get to the store. Basically he is pretty much back to normal with very minimal damage done. He will be out of work for awhile but my husband and I are going to help him out as much as he needs.

I am telling you gang the details so that you can recognise the signs of a stroke and please learn from both my mistake of not calling 911 right away and don't drive if this happens to you.

The good news is that he is doing well, and the doctors expect him to further recover. It will just take time. They said that his brain/body will absorb the blood that is in his brain and that it should take approx 2 weeks to do so. They also said that he has a good chance of a full recovery. Only time will tell.

Another thing that I learned and I think everyone should take a moment and check their stuff to see if you have done this. He had in his wallet a list of numbers to call in case something like this should happen. Well it had been a few years since he updated it and the numbers weren't any good. I ended up having to get in touch with the right person in a round about way. Please make sure that the people who know you best know where these numbers are and that they are up to date. It really helps in a time of crisis.

Enough of my story, I am trying to find the time to get out on the bike and believe it or not I am hanging in there. Will stop by and try to post more often.
-Heather

[Night Vision]

I am not so sure [not calling 911] was a bad thing. My secretary at work had a similar situation... her husband had a stroke, she drove like hell to the ER of her choice...

sometimes when you go for a ride in the Bamulance... they call around to see who's busy, who's accepting.. you may end up going to two or three different shops or not the closest bestest one....

when you pull up on your own, the hospital doesn't have much choice other than to admit you immediately....

obviously, there are some emergency situations where paramedics can administer life saving or life prolonging care.... heart attacks come to mind....

I think you did good

[Lucky]

They have lots of bilboards around here that say ''with a stroke, time lost is brain lost'' i guess Tennesseans have lots of strokes... must be all that fatty BBQ.  mmmmm, BBQ.........

[kiawrench]

i keep aq  notification card, medications card and directioins if found blacked out type card in my wallet, ridding jacket pocket and between helmet liner and shell. i also have the info inside sticker on my helmet.
my wife makes me wear a medalert braclet or necklace- just to leave my own room, lol .
between bee sting alergy and my own acquired medical troubles, i never know if it will be needed, but why chance it.

     tell your buddy we said get well, no time to be snoozing- winter is coming and the fishing looks to be great this year!

[hfarley]

Well after being reemed out by the er doctors, my mom, and a few other people about not calling 911 I finally had a doctor tell me I did the right thing. His doctor that came to see him yesterday told him that I probably saved his life. And by taking him to the hospital that I did ,they had that "special" super expensive blood serum medicine that has been shown to be highly effective in people with strokes if given right away. The other area hospitals don't have that medicine. I took him to the hospital that I did because I like that one, it is close to our house, and it is a huge teaching hospital and because of that it has all of the latest and greatest equipment that there is. I figured with all of that he had a really good chance there. Plus I drove like hell getting him there. So They can say all they want, I think in this situation I did the right thing.

The only downside is now everyone in his family wants to meet me, and they are calling me the heroine. LOL! I just did what I hope anyone else in the same situation would do. So much for my nice quiet weekend at home this weekend. His family is coming to see him and have already told him that they are going over to my house to say hi. (I guess this means that I will HAVE to clean my house afterall. lol!)

On another good note I just found out that I will be getting my father-in-laws car that he had when he died probably next week or the week after. And a lawsuit that I had pending still from my fathers death and estate over 5 years ago, looks like I will come out a few dollars ahead. All I can say is Karma is a good thing.  ;D ;D
-Heather

PS. Lucky, you sound like Homer Simpson with his pork chops. LOL!

[YellowJacket!]

Have any of you heard of "ICE" - In Case of Emergency?
Add a phonebook entry in your cell phone and call it ICE and set the numbers to your emergency contacts.  Most EMT's and Police (Motorplow can you back this up?) will check cell phones for contact info.  Most people have "Home, Work, Mom" etc in their phones.  Those are usually the ones that get called first.  In my case, not only do I have Vicki's number (my wife) but a few of my girlfriends um...other females whose names come before hers (including my ex-wife - who used to be listed as B@#ch - but my son had my phone one day when she called....oops).  :o   :o   :o

Just another good way to keep all your contacts in an easy to locate place.

David

[Night Vision]

and if you don't have a cell phone?......... or battery is dead?

seriously, I don't have one... personal [quirk] choice....

I like Kia's [old school / no fail] rescue plan....

ok, confession, I did borrow one for my OnROv trip...

[ProfessorRex]

Here's my Emergency Card:

[haunter]

mine is just the last 2  :D

[hfarley]

Hmm I can thnk of a few other pictures to put up there. Like one with a vision on it and others. LOL!
Thanks for the chuckle!

My neighbor is home, I set him up with meals for the week all labeled with sodium content. Made a notebook for him outlining when to take his meds and room to calculate sodium intake. Also cleaned his house out of bad foods so there is no temptation. Had him over for a nice low sodium dinner tonight, walked him home, let him take a shower while someone was in the house, set him up with his snack of milk and cookies and TV, and told him to get some rest. LOL! I think I am done for the night. LOL! Tomorrow is another day.
-Nurse Heather

[MotorPlow]

Anything with emercency contacts is a good thing. I usually check a persons wallet or purse first, but a cellphone with emergency contact information is a good idea. I once pulled a guy over for what I suspected to be a drunk driver. When he wasn't answering questions correctly (by the way, he was sober), I checked his wallet. Found just a scrap of paper with a phone number on it. Turned out, it was his wife's sister. She advised that the guy had been missing for 3 days. He was supposed to be on medication and wasn't taking it. Three days earlier, he made a wrong turn, in his own neighborhood (in Philadelphia) and was trying to find his way home. I pulled him over in Ferrum, Virginia... Dat's a looong way away from home.

Have any of you heard of "ICE" - In Case of Emergency?
Add a phonebook entry in your cell phone and call it ICE and set the numbers to your emergency contacts.  Most EMT's and Police (Motorplow can you back this up?) will check cell phones for contact info.  Most people have "Home, Work, Mom" etc in their phones.  Those are usually the ones that get called first.  In my case, not only do I have Vicki's number (my wife) but a few of my girlfriends um...other females whose names come before hers (including my ex-wife - who used to be listed as B@#ch - but my son had my phone one day when she called....oops).  :o   :o   :o

Just another good way to keep all your contacts in an easy to locate place.

David